“It was closed according to Chinese law because it involves state secrets,” said defense lawyer Wang Yuncai, who is not related to her client.

On Tuesday, the court is scheduled to hold the previously announced public portion of the trial — though foreign media won’t be allowed in — and the hearing is expected to go over allegations of bribe-taking and other charges.

The trial was the latest wrinkle in the bizarre months-long scandal that started when Wang fled to the U.S. Consulate in February and divulged the murder of a British businessman. It resulted in the removal of his boss, senior politician Bo Xilai, from the communist leadership and the roiling of the Communist Party leadership as it prepares a delicate transfer of power to younger leaders.

“The trial started at 8.30 this morning and finished at about noon,” Ms Wang [Wang Lijun’s defense lawyer], who is no relation to her client, said. “The trial has two parts, private and public. Today is the private part because it involves state secrets – it was about the two charges of defection and bending the law for his own ends,” added Ms Wang who is the director of the Beijing L&A law firm in Shenyang.

Police and security forces surrounded the People’s Intermediate Courthouse in Chengdu, southwest China, but a local government official claimed the security presence was merely a “rehearsal” and denied Mr Wang’s trial had started.

Si Beibei, a local government official, said the trial would only start on Tuesday and would only last one day.

“It is hard to say how it went. I cannot comment right because the second part is still to come. Tomorrow will deal with the other charges. I cannot comment on any other details at the moment,” Ms Wang said.

Phillips reported being closely watched by security while in the city:

My morning stroll through Chengdu took a slightly sinister turn outside courthouse where Wang Lijun is going on trial…

As Chinese police cars surrounded the building, Mr. Wang slipped U.S. diplomats the cellphone number of an accomplice, according to several people familiar with what happened. It would lead to evidence, he said, implicating the wife of Bo Xilai, one of the most senior leaders in the Chinese Communist Party, in the murder of British businessman Neil Heywood.

During a 30-hour standoff, U.S. officials weighed the information he claimed to have against the damage that granting him asylum could do to U.S.-Chinese relations. In the end, diplomats said Mr. Wang didn’t formally seek asylum, and he left the consulate and was taken into Chinese custody.

But the drama didn’t end there. In a previously undisclosed development, the U.S. handed the cellphone number over to British diplomats and gave them instructions on how to track down the information from Mr. Wang’s mysterious accomplice. The instructions included setting up an email account under a designated name with a popular Chinese email and messaging service. The British set up the account and texted the cellphone number. People involved gave conflicting accounts of the timing and whether the accomplice responded. For reasons that are unclear, the British never received the promised documents.

[…] The revelation that he claimed to have an accomplice who may still be prepared to spill secrets could complicate China’s efforts to dictate the narrative about Messrs. Wang and Bo. The new details about Mr. Wang’s stay in the consulate and its aftermath also shed light on how U.S. and British authorities responded to the unusual episode that triggered China’s worst political crisis in more than two decades. Mr. Wang was a potentially valuable intelligence source with inside knowledge about senior Chinese leaders, but also was someone accused by human-rights activists and legal experts of widespread abuse of police powers.